Jenny Altermatt’s love affair with the snow, mountains and skiing started at age four, when her mother Christine took her and brother Kevin from Melbourne to Europe, via boat, to visit her family in Tyrol, Austria. Her grandparents gave Jenny her first skis, a pair of red Fischer wooden skis with cable bindings and leather boots. It was love at first sight for the young Jenny, who started sneaking out to the hill behind the farm house and practice whenever she could. 

Childhood holidays were spent at Falls Creek, both summer and winter, where every corner of the resort was explored in every weather and snow condition. Altermatt recalls being about nine years old when she saw races were being conducted at Falls Creek and she asked her parents if she could have a go. She subsequently fell twice and was last by many minutes. However, a kind American ski racer (‘Billy the Kidd’) encouraged her and suggested she start with the children’s races. 

Altermatt followed the advice and her skiing improved greatly after joining the Falls Creek Race Club, alongside her brother Kevin. One of her coaches was Richard Walter, later to become Head of Ski School at St Anton am Arlberg, Austria. Soon ski racing took over family life. Altermatt’s parents committed to her development in the sport and started volunteering at races, joined various committees and took on fundraising initiatives. Jenny’s side of the bargain was to be fit and strong and to continue dry-land training in the off season.  Altermatt took her training very seriously and she credits her success at the National Slalom Championships in 1975 to a fitness program specifically created for her by a Swiss family friend.

Altermatt’s first European winter training was an eye-opener to different terrain, equipment and training opportunities. She got to train with the Swiss ‘B’ team and that brought an enormous leap forward in her skills development. Altermatt then became part of the Australian Women’s Ski Team which included Jacqui Cowderoy, Marilla Gus, Ondine MacLashan and Georgia McKaym. She competed in Europa Cup and FIS races, also participating in two World Championships while training with the French ‘B’ Team and the New Zealand team at different times. 

Unfortunately, a fractured distal fibula disrupted her Olympic preparations. Altermatt credits trainer Franz Stampfl and his rehab programme for helping her regain the necessary strength and fitness to continue competing at the elite level. At the time Stampfl’s methods were pioneering, and against the prevailing doctrine. Altermatt spent many hours in the gym doing free squats and bench presses, often lifting more than her body weight. Balance training involved tight rope walking.

All the training paid off and Altermatt got selected for the Australian team participating in the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics, where she competed in the technical events, finishing 28th in the Giant Slalom. 

Altermatt’s last major race was a downhill in Schladming, Austria, in 1982. She competed in a cast, as she had fractured her right hand in training. She strapped her pole to her arm and still managed to race nearly as fast as her teammate Ondine Maglashan. A gutsy finish.

After her racing career, studies beckoned and Altermatt became immersed in becoming a doctor. But her love of sport and fitness drove her to enjoy many other sports, including long-distance running and cross-country skiing. She competed in multi-sport events like the Wildtrek Winter Classic at Mt Hotham/Omeo, many Kangaroo Hoppets, Paddy Pallin and the Memorial Charlie Derrick races, also winning the 20km cross-country freestyle race in her age group at the 1992 World Masters Games in Anchorage, AK (USA).